Our Beginnings

Gail Nettles established our club in 1993 with the goal of gaining recognition for the Ragdoll Breed in CFA. Janet Merriweather followed Gail as President, and Judy Kay Halsey became our Breed Chair, and the first Breed Council Secretary. Before their time, and as early as the 1970’s, Denny and Laura Dayton had established a Ragdoll breeding program with the cattery name Blossom Time, and written a standard for the breed. Denny documented pedigree records that Charlie Meyer maintains to this day. In 1972, the Daytons petitioned CFA on behalf of our breed. During that same time, our breed’s founder, Ann Baker, had barraged CFA with an outrageous letter writing campaign and was just too difficult to deal with.

Click Cover to View Album Of never been seen before Shots of Denny & Laura And their Ragdolls

Ann Baker, Photo Courtesy of Lorna Wallace in The Definitive Guide to Ragdolls
A 1970’S photo of “2 humans & 3 Ragdolls” as captioned by Denny. Pictured are Denny & Laura with Lovable, Phil & Floppy - courtesy of Denny & Laura Dayton
Classic Blossom Time Photo of the Three Patterns courtesy of Denny Dayton

Other early pioneers included Blanche Herman, Dave & Georgann Chambers, Wain & Jean Pierce, Sharon Steadman, Rosemary Howarth, and Brenda Whyde Parish. It would not be until the 1990’s when things really started happening for the Ragdoll in CFA. By then, the Ragdoll breed was recognized in all the other registries. We had become miscellaneous in CFA in 1993 thanks to Gail Nettles and subsequently moved from miscellaneous to provisional in CFA.

At the November 1999 International in Kansas City, 23 Ragdoll cats, kittens, and alters were presented for consideration to move from provisional to championship status at the next CFA Board Meeting. Our Breed Chair, Judy Kay Halsey used a clock theme, the idea being, our time was here – It’s Ragdoll Time. Judy Kay made coordinated cage curtains with a clock print. Rosemary Howarth ironed them and Sharon Steadman provided refreshments. We were ready and could not have been better represented than by this dedicated group.
Photo: Judy Kay Halsey, center; L Renate Wald; R Rosemary Howarth.- courtesy Rosemary Howarth

At the February 2000 Board the Ragdoll was unanimously approved for Championship Status in Point Color & White, which is the bicolor and van patterns. The Ragdoll’s Championship status was Effective May 1, 2000. It was indeed Ragdoll time!

In 2002 our Breed Council Secretary, Isabelle Bellavance, petitioned for AOV status for our Ragdolls in the colorpoint pattern, but we were turned down. RAG will continue to support this effort which will be resubmitted and encourage our members to join the CFA Breed Council.

Our CFA Ragdoll Breed Council Secretary is Isabelle Bellavance whose Cattery is Kebekat in Quebec, Canada. Her Ragdoll Breed Council's website is Ragdoll Breed Council.

Joan C. Ludwig, Past President, RAG

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Credits and thank you to all the photographers:
Professional photos copyright to the respective photographers and owners.
Channon, St. Arnaud, J. Child, Ego Prints, M Kats, Nelson, Helmi Flick, Tetsu
Larry Johnson, Jacques, Roberts, Dennis Gillette

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